Australia is considering banning “high-risk” uses of artificial intelligence, such as disinformation and algorithmic bias. A new report warns of technology’s ability to “influence democratic processes or cause other fraud” as well as “target racial minority groups.
The country that wants to get rid of artificial intelligence
The government is considering banning “high-risk” uses of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making, warning of potential harms, including the creation of algorithmic misinformation and bias.
On Thursday, Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic will release a report on emerging technologies by the National Science and Technology Council and a discussion paper on how to achieve “safe and responsible” artificial intelligence.
Generative AI, where AI creates new content such as text, images, audio and code, has seen a surge in adoption, such as through the “large language model” programs ChatGPT, Google’s Bard chatbot and the Microsoft Bing chat.
As universities and education authorities grapple with applying the new technology to student plagiarism, the industry department’s discussion paper warns that AI has a number of “potentially harmful purposes”.
Why is the tool dangerous?
These include “generating deepfakes to influence democratic processes or cause other deception, creating disinformation and encouraging people to self-mutilate.”
“Algorithmic bias is often cited as one of the biggest risks or dangers of AI,” the document says, with the potential to prioritize male candidates over female candidates in recruitment or target racial minority groups .
Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic will release a report on emerging technologies and a discussion paper on how to achieve “safe and responsible” AI on Thursday.
The paper also noted the positive applications of AI already in use, such as analyzing medical images, improving building safety and reducing costs in the provision of legal services.
